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Aviation History
1958
1958 - 0542.PDF
558 FLIGHT, 25 April 1958 1958 Russian Aircraft at the Universal and International Exhibition By A. T . PUGH UNDER the crowning colossus of the atomium, the greatBrussels exhibition of 1958 sprawls over 500 acres ofBelgian woodland. Nothing quite like it has been seen in Europe before, and the fair surpasses the great exhibition held inNew York in 1939. The first impact upon the mind and eye is immense, overpowering, almost stupefying. Experiments in archi-tecture crowd upon the mind until one's conception of the norm has gone; constructional convention is defied on every hand. Itis a magnificent, wonderful show. There is plenty of meat, within those towering pavilions andunder the soaring spans of steel and concrete, for the aeronautical engineer. Rich red meat some of it is too, with informationavailable for the first time on several aircraft upon which only scanty data has hitherto been published. Most British visitorswill, I suppose, visit the British pavilion, as I did during a rapid visit last week, to satisfy themselves that our own aircraft industryis well represented. It is, or at least the engine manufacturers are, with show engines displayed by Bristol (Olympus), Rolls-Royce(Avon, Conway, Dart, Tyne) and Napier, whose Gazelle is shown mounted upright to drive attenuated helicopter blades in a repre-sentative installation. B.O.A.C. and B.E.A. are displaying a fine model of the Comet mounted high up on their impressive display. But it is to the enormous Russian pavilion that visitors willgravitate eventually, for very few of us indeed have had oppor- tunity of studying Russia's aeronautical offerings at first hand.And here, displayed in the great rectangular hall that dwarfs even the exhibits of heavy machinery, and flanking a great bronze ofLenin, are wonderful models of Russia's formidable civil fleet. First to catch my eye was a model of the An-16, apparentlyidentical with that of the An-10 opposite, although obviously with more seats and a slightly less elaborate interior layout. By thistime my absorbed interest had been noticed by a Russian inter- preter, but as we needed a third party to reconcile his Germanwith my lingua franca, we made little progress other than the exchange of a pencilled note that An-10A = 100 man, An-16= 130man. Later a French-speaking interpretress joined in with further explanations. This was rather better, and I learned a little moreabout the accommodation arrangements in the Tu-114 and Tu-110. Then a third informant, Mr. N. S. Rybko of the SovietChamber of Trade, weighed in with some really helpful explana- tions in English. Mr. Rybko, overalled for this moving-in day, wasvery well informed upon most matters relating to Russian civil aviation, and I spent an intensely interesting and valuable fewhours with him. I confirmed the impression that Russian civil aircraft manufacturers maintain a close watch upon the activitiesof their British and American contemporaries; perhaps they are a little envious of the co-operation that exists in the Western world—through the medium of exchange papers and Anglo-American conferences—on many basic problems. I was to be reminded ofthis again when I saw references to "fail safe" structures'fin a description of the 11-18 Moscow. For his part, I think Mr. Rybko was interested in my reaction to Russia's formidable civil air fleet. I could not have disguised, inany case, my admiration for the quite magnificent Tu-114. Not a great deal of new information was available upon this as yet verynew prototype, but the sectioned model showing a 170-seat interior is very similar to that depicted in the cut-away drawing on pages286-287 of Flight for February 28. The 170-seat layout includes tables—each equipped with a shaded tablelight—for the alternateforward- and aft-facing seats in the central (restaurant) cabin. By removing these tables and using six-abreast seating, the accom-modation can be increased to 220, although the general seat pitch of 36.6in may also suffer. From behind the aircrew compartmentthe accommodation is arranged as follows: a vestibule compart- ment with seats for the stewardesses (of which there are three) orfor passengers waiting to use the toilet; the forward cabin with 41 seats; the restaurant cabin with 48 seats; a cabin with threeforward-facing seats opposite the staircase; four pullman com- partments seating 24 and an after cabin seating 54. The backs of the three-abreast and two-abreast seats can beinclined from 16 to 40 deg and locked in any of seven positions; the recline angle of the cushion is 12 deg. The interpreters wereadamant that there would be no seat price distinction. Downstairs is the kitchen, in which are employed two or threefull-time cooks; the food is despatched by lifts to the stewardesses for distribution. I had some discussion with Mr. Rybko as towhether the serving compartment should, in the circumstances, be called a pantry or a galley. I think we decided that pantry was themore appropriate. Within the gross pressurized volume of 20,122 cu ft are twounderfloor freight holds; most unusually (at least by Western standards) the after one can be entered in flight through a door onthe lower deck. Perhaps provisions will be stored in the "cupboard under the stairs." There is plenty of room; the total volume is2,472 cu ft, and the volume of the pressure cabin 16,423 cu ft. The cabin altitude incidentally is held at s.l. equivalent up to about20,000ft and at an equivalent altitude of 8,000ft above that. The maximum differential pressure is 8.4 lb/sq ft. Temperature isheld at 20 deg C and humidity at 20 per cent. From the latest Russian turboprop we moved on to discuss thenewest Russian jet, the Tu-110. I excited no sharp reaction to my questioning on the French refusal to allow the Tu-104 into Orly,or the possibility that the noise problem would restrict Aeroflot's Moscow - London service to the 11-18, which is expected to gointo service in the summer (ten or more are now flying). My Russian informant remarked that there was still much to learn, andI like to think that his attitude is typical. In any case, he explained, silencers for the Tu-104 and Tu-110, similar to those used byde Havilland and Boeing, were now being developed. The Tu-110, which is some 10ft longer than the Tu-104, isequipped with 100 seats and furnished according to the and'1* regime; stained or natural wood veneers, gilded capitols and glass-fronted cupboards. "Why," I asked, "did Aeroflot have this divergence of opinion about interior design?" The answer was
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